by National Life Master Loal Davis
Paul Morphy was an absolutely astounding chess player. Even his casual games, games at odds, and blindfold games are works of art. He was certainly most capable of playing greater numbers, but he limited himself to playing eight boards during a blindfold exhibition. For the further details of the exhibition in Paris, please see
http://www.quantumgambitz.com/blog/chess/cga/morphy-masterpiece
which was published by quantumgambitz in 2012. The following game was one of the eight simultaneous games. The quality of this game is such that it could “easily” have been played over the board in a match or tournament.
Blindfold Simultaneous (One Of Eight Games) Paris 1858
White “Morphy, Paul” Black “Baucher, Henri”
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bh4 Nh6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. O-O O-O
Here White could easily shuffle his pieces in the name of “development”; moving ‘Rad1’ is certainly not a bad move. But Morphy spots the clear weakness on ‘e6’ and plays accordingly.
11. Qc4+ Kh8 12. Nd4 Qd7 13. Rad1 Rf7 14. f4 a5 15. f5 Rff8 16. Ne6
Mission accomplished and a severe bone in Black’s throat.
Rg8 17. a4 Ng4 18. Qe2 Ne5 19. Bg3
The Knight on e5 is practically Black’s only good piece and Morphy is going to remove it.
Qc8 20. Bxe5 dxe5 21. Rf3
Positionally the game is over. This beautiful Rook Hike and subsequent slide to the ‘h’ file coupled with the Queen spells doom for Black.
Bd7
Attempting to remove the choke hold is understandable – BUT – this loses material.
22. Rh3
A big threat ! – ‘Rxh7+ Kxh7, Qh5#’ This forcefully lays the foundation for a fork on the next move.
h6 23. Qd2
This is it ! The Bishop on ‘d7’ is hanging – but that is nothing compared to the sacrifice on ‘h6’ – and Mate !
Kh7 24. Qxd7 Bd6
The game is obviously over – BUT – the mating attack beginning here is stunningly beautiful – typical Morphy.
25. Rxh6+
Sharp eyes ! Morphy is relentless.
Kxh6 26. Rd3
This mate threat gives no time to capture the Queen. The King runs for his life, and he has to run forward.
Kh5 27. Qf7+
Black is effectively playing with a a lone King against a Queen, Rook, and two Knights. The cornerstone is the multi-tentacled beast on e6. Enough !
1-0